PA Officials Destroy 'Settlement' Products

PA inspectors have confiscated and destroyed 148.2 kg of products that were made in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 7/31/2012, 5:14 AM

Judea and Samaria

Flash 90

Teams from the Consumer Protection Division of the Palestinian Authority’s National Economy Ministry destroyed during the first week of Ramadan close to 75 tons of expired products, spoiled products and products that are prohibited from being marketed because they were made in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron).

The National Economy Ministry said in a statement released on Monday that consumer protection teams confiscated 148.2 kg of products originating in Judea and Samaria and which are valued at 3,810 shekels. The statement said that the products were seized during inspections conducted in PA markets. In total, 1,388 stores were inspected, of which 160 stores were in violation of the law. Most shop owners received warning letters and four will be prosecuted for selling products from the ‘settlements’.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian National Initiative movement in Gaza is calling on activists and the public to boycott Israeli products. The movement plans to hold an event on Wednesday to encourage a ban on consumption of products originating in Israel. The movement is claiming that the profits Israel makes from exports to the PA finance its repressive actions against PA Arabs and its expansions of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

The PA’s Central Bureau of Statistics in Ramallah said last week that imports from Israel to the PA rose during the month of May by five percent compared to the previous month and decreased by 2.7 percent compared to May of last year.

The total import value stood at $385.8 million, according to the report. Imports from Israel make up 65 percent of all imports to the PA and they rose in May by 1.8 percent in comparison to April, while imports from other countries increased by 11.5 percent.

A PA boycott on products from Judea and Samaria began last year and was later extended to include goods made in the Jewish neighborhoods of northern, southern, and eastern Jerusalem. The boycott is now in place in many areas that have been annexed to Israel and are under full Israeli sovereignty.

The PA’s Minister of National Economy, Dr. Hassan Abu-Libdeh, has called to “dry out” financially the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Abu-Libdeh ridiculously claimed that boycotting products out of Judea and Samaria would be in Israel’s interests, since, as he put it, “the Israeli far right seeks to develop the settlements at the expense of the Israeli citizen.”